The news is out– Blake with the C, Boyle and Joe the A’s.

I’m stunned.

Ray Ratto turned out to be right:

The team captain will be Rob Blake. Not because the Sharks announced it, which they didn’t, but because he is the painfully obvious choice. Yes, even more painfully obvious than Dan Boyle.

Now normally, in an article such as this (or really, in writing of any quality), when a question is asked (or implied, as it is here), that question is usually ANSWERED.  Nope.  Ratto prattles on, talking about how the team needs to worry about depth.

WHY THE F IS IT OBVIOUS?

Maybe it is obvious to Ratto.  Maybe it’s obvious to all the reporters that go into the locker room and talk to the players.  Or talk to the coaches and management.  But I’m not one of those, dammit.  I want to know.  The big question, now implied (and no doubt will not be answered) is, why not Boyle?  Boyle will be on this team for a long time.  Boyle has taken the heat in the press.  Boyle has expressed a desire to be in that role, and a respect and understanding for what the captaincy entails.   What did I miss?  Blake has a one year deal, at 39 years old.  The Sharks will have to go through this whole mess again next year, and the year after that if Blake returns, ad nauseaum.  Clearly there’s a compelling reason why Blake is the choice amidst all this, and Boyle wasn’t suitable.

What’s the reason??

No, really, I’m asking, that’s not a rhetorical question.

Seriously.  Tell me.

After what could only be described as a middling preseason, the final cuts are about to happen, the leadership letters will be sewn on, and the Dudes are ready with their predictions for all of it.  Mike and Doug run down the surprisingly little news there was this past week, try and forecast which players will be kept, and finish the season preview with an Eastern Conference rundown.

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Here are my five questions for you before the final cuts are made sometime on Tuesday. I’ve included my short responses in bold.

1. Who will the Sharks captain and two A’s be?
Captain Dan Boyle with A’s to Douglas Murray and Patrick Marleau. Yes, I said Douglas Murray.

2. Will Torrey Mitchell be placed on long term IR? This is critical when deciding how many players the Sharks carry on opening night.
Mitchell will be on long term IR, which from what I understand means he will be out a minimum of 10 games/24 days.

3. Frazer McLaren, Brad Staubitz and Jody Shelley – Which two make the team and why?
I think McLaren has earned the spot over Staubitz, but I believe Staubitz and Shelley get the nod. One of these guys will be scratched nightly, so the team would rather have McLaren playing 18 minutes in Worcester instead of riding pine, although I think he’s ready to play NHL minutes. He’ll be back.

4. Benn Ferriero or Jed Ortmeyer?
Both because of Mitchell on IR.

5. Mike Moore, Jason Demers, Joe Callahan and Derek Joslin. Which two make the team and why?
This is the biggest wild card. I think Callahan is going to make the team as the scratch and while the coaching staff is flirting with the unknown Demers, clearer head prevail and Joslin gets the nod. If he falters, Demers will be waiting…as will Petrecki.

Post your answers in the comment thread.

As the Sharks enter their final home preseason game tonight, there are still some unanswered questions and quite a bit of drama for your mama.

For one, the uninspiring play of Kent Huskins this preseason has many quaking in their boots, including head coach Todd McLellan. In the three games that Huskins has played (twice vs. Vancouver and at Anaheim) he was on the ice for nine of the 12 goals scored against the Sharks. WHAT? That’s terrible, like somebody check to see if Semenov is hiding under a Huskins mask. He is one to watch tonight after being called out by McLellan for poor conditioning in David Pollak’s blog – can Huskins respond to the challenge? I have to believe that he isn’t a loser, he played big minutes for the Ducks last year and was solid and was a part of their Cup run. He has to snap out of it. Huskins is paired with Mike Moore tonight, who with his 1M price tag is the biggest long shot left in camp to make the blueline. It sure is looking like Derek Joslin will be the 6th d-man – and possibly Joe Callahan gets the nod as the scratch since he won’t benefit from the AHL development like Demers would.

While the Sharks got Manny Malhotra for a song, Mattieau Dandenault must not have been willing to give much of a discount, or the coaching staff wasn’t that impressed with what they saw. I mean, the guy was healthy by all accounts last year and couldn’t get on the ice for the Canadiens. The emergence of Benn Ferriero might have cost Dandenault a roster spot because the Sharks don’t need his flexibility.

The bottom six has a few spots up for grabs and tonight Mike and I will get our first peak at Jed Ortmeyer. He’s playing with Malhotra and McGinn on the third line and the 4th line is Nichol, Shelley and Ferriero to start, so that leaves Staubitz, Frazer McLaren and Hinote in the pressbox. Hinote must still be getting strong consideration or else he would have been let go today too.

On a side note, I was caught offguard by the Flames releasing Theo Fleury today – he was the feel good story of the preseason and would have captivated the Calgary crowd and possibly propelled them to a great start. Will someone else pick him up or is he going to hang them up? Don’t bet on the Sharks acquiring Fleury for a second time – the ship has sailed in San Jose on retread veterans resurrecting their careers.

Six more days til these games actually mean something.

Preseason hockey has finally started, which means the regular season isn’t far away.  Mike and Doug talk about the recent signing of Manny Malhotra, and try and guess which players will make the opening day roster.  Too bad the new golden boy Nick Petrecki got sent down to the AHL.  Finally, the Dudes preview the Western Conference, with the East coming next week.

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We’re ready for the season to start, so listen to the latest podcast.  Although our boy Nick Petrecki got sent down to Worchester, which is a little disappointing, it’s hard not to be excited about October 1, and a very different Sharks team.  Also, for those of you still bummed about the Ducks loss (ok, that’s probably all of you), I found this take at Puck Prospectus:

For Sharks fans, it has been tough to not focus on the playoffs, but I can’t get too worked up over their first round exit against the Anaheim Ducks last year. There have been 33 similar first round series’ since 1980 where one team had a pythagorean winning percentage between 80 and 120 points higher than their opponent – and they won just 20 of them – 61%. The Ducks were significantly better than their goal differential indicated, so what was perceived as a 1st seed versus an 8th seed matchup was nearly a toss-up.

Nonetheless, the Sharks actually dominated the play: they outshot the Ducks, on average, 51-40 (Detroit outshot them by even more and still took seven games to beat them.) They got the same number of power-play opportunities, and spent more time on the man-advantage than the Ducks did. Even though the Ducks have undeniably good defensemen and defensive forwards, the Sharks’ expected shooting percentages were still better-than-average: 5.7% at even-strength (vs 5.3% for the league) and 9.5% on the power-play (vs 8.6% league-wide.) No, the problem was the unfathomably good goaltending of Jonas Hiller, who somehow managed to let in an unsustainable 3.3% of the shots the Sharks directed at the Ducks net. At the other end of the ice, Evgeni Nabokov let in 7.5% of Anaheim’s shots at net. That’s the entire story.

So if you accept that the Sharks’ playoff “choking” means very little, what moves do you make in the offseason? Well, you couldn’t do much more than the Sharks did: they kept eight of their top ten scorers, they’ll miss Milan Michalek, but not Christian Ehrhoff, who was a liability at even-strength; they picked up Dany Heatley, one of just four players to score 50 goals twice in the last decade; and they gave themselves the best face-off crew in the league by signing the undervalued Manny Malhotra. The Sharks won’t win the President’s Trophy again, but they substantially improved the team over last year.

Read the whole thing, it’s worth it.

If the Sharks were looking for someone to step up and provide a leadership role on the ice, they got that performance tonight from a player – just not the one they were probably expecting. After blowing a 3-0 lead, Patrick Marleau put the team on his back and delivered the game tying and game winning goals, giving the Sharks a 5-4 OT victory over the Phoenix Coyotes in their third meaningless-season game. Heatley looked a little tight at times and only took one shot – he’s clearly still finding his way with Seto and Jumbo, but you could see moments, especially on the powerplay, where this is going to be something pretty special. Heatley just loves to sit in the crease and wait – which was great to see cause not many of the Sharks seem to like that gig. It’s Heatley’s bag baby and when they figure it out – big things, yes sir – big things.

Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights and lowlights:

I was stoked that Nick Petrecki was paired with Dan Boyle tonight…until he got run for a game misconduct after only five minutes were played. Here’s what I saw – and feel free to weigh in if you were there cause there was a ton going on at the time, it was hard to see it all go down. Scott Nichol took a tripping minor and on his way to the box, he tried to take someone with him and started barking at Heshka on Phoenix who then went after Nichol and Staubitz stepped in. A flurry of gloves and helmets went flying and suddenly we had three fights going on – McLaren and Fritz, Staubitz and Heshka and Petrecki had his mitts on two Phoenix players and they were dragging each other around to center ice. He then scrapped with Vernan Fiddler and next thing we knew, both he and Fiddler got tossed. My best guess is he got a third man somehow? Not sure what happened but I felt robbed of seeing his potential breakout performance with Boyle.

As for the forwards, Jamie McGinn again was very strong and is going to make it really hard on McLellan to not keep him around. He buried a sweet pass from Dan Boyle on the powerplay and logged 3:26 shutout PK minutes. Pavelski and Clowe had a little redemption tonight, each notching one point and a +1. That line played a lot more effectively tonight than Friday for sure. Stats won’t back this up, but I want to say that I’m a Scott Nichol fan. He is a fireball and in the middle of everything. My favorite moment near the end of the game after he took a hit, he followed the player to the bench and cut him off while the Coyote player was trying to make a chance, jawing in his face about his mother, or something colorful. He almost got the dude to take a penalty in a tie game. He’s going to be a fun guy to watch this year and will make more of an impact than Goc. Did I mention he won 71% of his faceoffs?

Everyone else kind of faded into obscurity – Staubitz had two fights but offered little in the way of hockey skill and McLaren and Mashinter were pretty anonymous tonight. Logan Couture had two bright spots near the end, he fed a great pass to Staubitz who promptly choked and couldn’t get the shot off and then Couture was in on the tying goal after having crashed the net. The guys who sit behind me were saying Staubitz is a “lock” to make this team and I still just don’t see it. I like the guy as far as a fighter, but he can’t play the PK or the PP – so how can the Sharks carry both Staubitz and Shelley? They are duplicate parts.

Poor Douglas Murray. I think the big guy was just plain tired by the third period, but Murray was on the ice for all three Phoenix third period goals. In his defense, the dude had to play 28 minutes tonight – like 10-12 more than he ever plays and I thought he looked very good in the first two periods, even leading the break a few times and he delivered a few big hits – but the stats don’t lie.
Derek Joslin played some big minutes and had a good stat line (1 point and +2) but I noticed he likes to hit people high, which kind of turned me off. Demers got used a few times in his own end, he’s not ready for primetime yet. Callahan was okay actually, seemed steady but nothing to write home about. Dan Boyle loves goals, he was on the ice for six of them tonight – luckily four of them were Sharks goals.

I don’t blame Nabby for the meltdown in the third period and thought he looked sharp for the first 40 minutes. He was a victim of some bad and tired D that lost focus after they thought the game was over. Let’s not throw him under the bus.

I’m expecting there to be some pretty significant cuts made tomorrow since Worcester starts their training camp on Tuesday and their first preseason game on Wednesday of next week. Until then, we soldier on for more preseason action with Mighty Marleau leading the way. “Here He Comes To Save The Day…Now That The C Has Gone Away”

UPDATE:
Here are the six roster cuts. I guess maybe the biggest surprises might be that Brandon Mashinter is still in camp and McLellan chose to keep Moore, Callahan and Demers. Thought one of them might get sent down…

The night started great.

My wife was invited back to sing the national anthem and she also did “O’ Canada” for the first time and even though I’d completely biased, she nailed them both. When she sings, I get to sit in the penalty box during warm ups and watch the anthems from down on the ice – great stuff. I was pretty fired up about the game – a chance to see Petrecki in action versus some NHL caliber talent, a up close look at tryout players Hinote and Dandenault, another opportunity for Greiss to prove he could be a reliable NHL back-up to Nabby.

Long story short, the Sharks got hammered 6-2 and it was mostly brutal until the third period, when the outcome had been decided, but the Sharks finally got their act together offensively. It’s a little troubling when you can’t score on Andrew “Look My Legs Are Open” Raycroft, who has been maybe one of the worst NHL goalies the last two seasons in Colorado and Toronto. We really didn’t challenge him much all night, most of the shots he stopped were fairly routine.

Not many guys get a good grade tonight. It pains me to say that I didn’t even notice Petrecki enough to mention him in the blog, or Couture either for that matter. Both were fairly anonymous – we’ll see how Petrecki does in his second game after the butterflies are gone.

REGULARS WHO BOMBED
Kent Huskins – F+: Yikes, dude. You were on the ice for five of the six Vancouver goals. Holy cow, sir – you looked terrible in your own end. I hope this isn’t a trend for all former Ducks going in the toilet when they strap on Teal. Now, I’m being overdramatic cause it’s fun – and Huskins is better than this – but he sucked last night.

Not so fast Rob Blake, you sucked too my friend. Shake off those rusty skates, you were out there for four Vancouver goals. You looked decent on the powerplay, bombing away from the point for five shots – but not much physical play from Rob tonight – and you were Huskins partner for most of the night making an ugly couple. Not sure we’ll see that pair again. Needs work.

Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe also get a D+ last night. As McLellan alluded to in his postgame comments, how about a little leadership boys? The top line seemed all but willing to take it on the chin tonight cause the game “didn’t mean anything”. Not a great way to show the coach, the GM and us fans that the players Doug Wilson kept are ready to turn over a new one.

REGULARS WHO SHOWED UP
Vlasic: Do you know that he played 22 minutes last night and wasn’t out there for a single Canucks goal? How did he avoid it – well, he actually didn’t play poorly I guess. Hard to notice good play in a snowstorm, but Pickles gets out unscathed tonight for me.

FIGHTING FOR A ROSTER SPOT
McGinn: Our best offensive player of the night, he was out there for both Sharks goals. Looked full of energy and created some solid chances. With Malhotra around and his roster spot maybe not a lock, he was the main highlight of the night.

Stalock: Hard to give a solid evaluation because he came in after the game was well in hand in the second period, but he made some big saves that Greiss didn’t come close to making tonight and stopped 11 of 12 shots. The kid continues to impress.

Greiss: Doing his best Nabby in the playoffs impression, German Greiss loved to leave his five-hole open. He was brutal last night, giving up five goals on 14 shots. No excuses, big boys have to play back to back nights sometimes. Not good.

F. McLaren: He had a major league scrap with Desbiens who played for Manitoba last year – I bet these two have fought before. He might be the best fighter on the team out of the “goon” category and also he’s clearly the best overall player of the goons.

Dan Hinote: He got worked in a fight, but he did his “job” in trying to inspire the team at that time. He knows what he’s supposed to do. He scored a garbage goal and the guys who killed penalties tonight certainly didn’t do as well as he and Nichol did on Thursday. Does that help his cause?

Mattieu Dandenault: Meh. Didn’t show much of anything. He’s a #6 d-man who saw zero PK time.

WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY, GUY?
Joe Loprieno: Am I the only person who likes Joe Loprieno? He seems cut from the classic #6 d-man mold, big, responsible in his own zone. It should be noted that he also wasn’t on the ice for any Vancouver goals and he saw almost 3 minutes of PK time. Not going to make the team, but I’m curious to watch his development in Worcester. He was better than Mike Moore tonight, that’s for sure.

On Saturday I’m hoping for some Jumbo Joe/Heatley/Seto action and maybe an appearance by Manny Malhotra in Teal. I’m expecting to see Sexsmith or Nabby in net – if Nabby is going to play this early in preseason, it might be tonight so he doesn’t have to travel with the team on the road next week.

And here’s a random question that only us uber-Sharks nerds would ever notice. Where is Daniel Rahimi, the prospect that the Sharks got in the Ehrhoff/Luko trade. I know he is signed and I know he played in the AHL last year. I’m just wondering why he isn’t even on the training camp roster. Anyone got the skinny?

Teal and White is never that exciting, and I’ve finally resigned myself to that fact.  It’s fun to see some hockey again, and especially this year, it’s good to see the prospects and young guys.  One thing I will say about this Teal and White though, it was more competitive.  Twenty seconds in Frazier McLaren crashes the net, and the puck pinballs in off him, bodies going every which way.  Most of the game was pretty light checking, but there were a few hits.  Certainly there seemed to be a sense of guys trying to make the team.  Several penalties more than I remembered last year, I think Nichol took a couple.  You can already tell that he’s a pain in the ass, and will get under players’ skin.  I like that.

Nick Petrecki again impressed, with some good positional maneuvers, decent decision making, and a nice goal, this time wrist shot top shelf.  Doug and I were very excited when he was picked to participate in the shootout part, which also seemed more spirited than last year.  Petrecki did two separate fakes, a slap shot fake high between the circles and then a wrist shot fake before burying it stick side.  Impressive display.  The guy plays very composed, I can’t imagine trying a bunch of moves your first real time out in a Sharks uni.  If he muffed either of those fakes, he never would have heard the end of it.

In other news, Doug and I have been talking recently about the fairly long list of players that are still unsigned, and near the top of that list is a guy we like for the third line, Manny Malhotra.  Doug Wilson is clearly listening to our podcasts, because Pollak is reporting that Malhotra will be here soon (h/t evilducks).  Doug and I have a new bet, each of us trying to guess Malhotra’s contract amount.  If he doesn’t sign, it’s a push.  I picked $975k, Doug $850k.  Malhotra made $1.2M last year.

One thing that occurred to us quickly, however, is that this could mean that Torrey Mitchell is more hurt than we thought.  I’d hate to think Mitchell will miss extended time, but if he would be out for a couple of months or more, the Sharks can put him on Long Term Injured Reserve, and get some cap relief from Mitchell’s $1.247M salary.  That might be what caused DW to look at Malhotra.  With McLaren looking good, Nichol pesticulating (that’s a word, right?), and now Malhotra, the third line is shaping up nicely.

The biggest trade in the NHL happened this past week, with the Sharks getting the best player in the deal.  The Dudes break down the whole Heatley thing (again) and get Jon Swenson from Sharkspage on the line to weigh in.  Jon has also been to training camp, and reports on all the goings-on there.  Mike and Doug wrap it up by highlighting the questions still out there for this Sharks team and the players.

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